Not everything is about the Yankees, but a lot of signings are going to cause more of a reaction among Yankees fans than they will with the team which actually makes the signing. Like this one: Jon Heyman reports that the Diamondbacks have signed Eric Chavez. The deal is one year, $3 million, which seems quite reasonable.

Chavez, who hit .281/.349/.496 in the most action he’d seen since 2006, is a pretty good stopgap/platoon situation for the Dbacks, who (a) still have Chris Johnson; and (b) whose future third baseman, Matt Davidson, is a year or two away. Chavez from the left side and Johnson from the right isn’t that bad.

But it does limit the number of options the Yankees have to fill in for A-Rod at third. Even if not everything is about the Yankees.

Can somone go into Cashman’s room and take his pulse…you know just want to see if anyone in Yankee land is awake and alive….. It seems to me that if the Yankees want save money they should just skip the winter meetings. Its not like they do anything there the last few years anyway.

Sorry to see Chavez go but $3MM guaranteed is a bit expensive I think considering his injury history and since last year even with his PA incentives he only made $1.8MM. I wish him the best can’t blame the guy for going where the money is.

The Yanks gave Andruw Jones $4M last year to strikeout endlessly and occasionally play a way-below-average corner outfield spot, but they won’t give Chavez, a productive player who would continue to strengthen an area of need for them, a reasonable contract of $3M? What a mess the next few years are going to be.

I hate to correct you but the Yankees did NOT pay Andruw Jones $4MM last year. His contract called for a guaranteed $2MM plus PA incentives. Including the PA incentives he earned exactly $2.54MM
BTW, I think you have his salary confused with Freddy Garcia’s salary.

Chavez did what was good for Chavez. I remember how Yankee fans howled when the Yanks first signed him. Now they’re howling again because they didn’t resign him.
The same with Jones. In hindsight Brian Cashman’s a lot better GM then most of the post posting on this blog

It could be that they are looking to play some of the minor league talent that they have at 3B. Ronnier Mustelier, a 28 year old Cuban, has hit at every level in the minors. He rapidly rose through the system and ended up hitting .303 with 10 HR in 89 games with the AAA SWB team, and plays a decent 3B as well as 2B and the outfield. They also have Brandon Laird who hit .254 and 15HR at SWB. Or, they could play Nunez as suggested above. There are advantages to playing a rookie the first half of the season until ARod is ready. Often rookies do better the first half of the season until the league catches up to them and discovers holes in their approach at the plate. Also, rookies are not used to the longer MLB season and often fade during the second half, but if Arod is healthy in July this would not be a factor.

I can’t believe the Yankees let him go for that little money. Maybe they know something about him the others don’t. Unless it wasn’t about the money and Chavez just wanted to get back out west. All I know is that I would have felt a lot better with him at third than I do Nunez.

In terms of the Yankees, how bad do you think they’re hoping A-Rod can’t play again so they can cash in that insurance policy? I don’t wish ill will on the guy, but man that would be nice. And I’m a Yankees fan